Asafoetida. Ferula foetida.

Part Employed—The dried milky juice obtained by incising the green matured root of the Ferula foetida.

CONSTITUENTS—

Resin, Gum, Volatile Oil, Sulphur.

PREPARATIONS—

Emulsion Asafetidae, Emulsion of Asafoetida. Dose, two ounces.

Pilulae Asafoetidae. Pills of Asafoetida. Dose, one to four pills.

Tinctura Asafoetidae, Tincture of Asafoetida. Dose, one to two drams.

Therapy—This agent is a mildly stimulating nerve sedative. Its soothing influence upon the brain is of no mean order. This is especially observed in hysterical conditions, in hystero-epilepsy and in hypochondriasis. It arrests hysterical paroxysms and produces quiet and rest with a pleasant sense of exhilaration. It relieves the flatulence of hysteria also. In nervousness, especially that of weakened and exhausted conditions, and of children, it is soothing, and often wards off spasms.

In spasmodic conditions of the stomach and bowels with tympanites, in the absence of active inflammation it is a remedy long used. In accumulations of gas in the stomach or bowels it has been used to, the best advantage.

In spasmodic bronchial affections, in whooping cough, and in asthma it was a favorite with the older doctors. In the bronchial catarrhs of the aged and infants it has been given with advantage, especially if nervous depression was present. A three-grain pill was the celebrated "Keeley cure" for la grippe, and those who have used the remedy in epidemic influenza are usually enthusiastic in its praise.

The American Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Pharmacognosy, 1919, was written by Finley Ellingwood, M.D.
It was scanned by Michael Moore for the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine.